Blissful Weakness
by Siren's Call
Summary: Water was the weaker element. This was his mantra. But after longing for her, dreaming of her, Zuko attempts to make sense of his beliefs.


Title: Blissful Weakness

Author: Siren's Call

Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar: The Last Airbender, I would've made Zutara canon by now. Alas, we Zutarians can only hope for a brighter future.

A/N: This is my very first Zutara story. Come to think of it, this is my first Avatar story at all. I apologize if it's OOC and for any other mistakes because I have no beta. Anyway, I hope you lot enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. In addition, this is a one-shot. I repeat: This is a one-shot. Please read and review!!!

KEY: '...' thoughts; "..." speech

TIMELINE: Post-Zuko Alone

BLISSFUL WEAKNESS

Water was the weaker element.

This was his mantra.

When fatigue clawed at him, he chanted this. And only this.

It was hardly a chaste comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.

The balance was nonexistent. The four great elements no longer sang their harmonious melody. Fire laid a terrible siege. Its great, blazing flames lashed and licked at its opponents. The flames' brilliant radiance would do nothing but further plunge the earth into confining darkness.

The fire consumed and swallowed the land. A great Holocaust. Nothing but desolation. The fire crooned a murderous aria.

Scourge.

Plague.

Curse.

He denies this. He acknowledges only that fire is power. Fire is _his_ power. He controls it. He commands it. He bends it.

But it betrayed him.

He was forever marked.

Witless Traitor.

Miserable Failure.

Banished Prince.

'No!' Zuko screams silently. 'Don't go there. Just breathe.'

But his mind betrays him as his troubled thoughts drift toward something else. Something different.

Her.

His lips contort into distaste.

'She's nothing but a water wench! She's weak. She's small. She's-'

In his mind's eye, her azure eyes glowed magnificently.

His lips faltered and his flaxen eyes dimmed.

'Stop fooling yourself. You know exactly what she is.'

Perfection.

He couldn't help but argue with himself.

'She's just a girl, barely approaching womanhood.'

'Yet she affects you.'

'She can do nothing to me.'

'She could bend_ you _to her will with those enchanting eyes.'

'Impossible! Water was the weaker element.'

'That's a lie!'

Disconcerting silence sets in. It deafens the exiled prince. Then, he stands. His ostrich-horse cocks its head to the side, as if to inquire where its master was going.

Zuko was in a forest. It had been one week since he left the small Earth Kingdom village. He walked past the conifer trees and ignored the snap of twigs as he took each step.

Then, he heard it. This lovely rush that burrowed past obstructing stones.

Zuko kneeled in front of the stream, both mesmerized and disgusted by its hypnotic colors. The flowing water was a part of _her_. It was _her _element. _Her _power. It belonged to _her_. And only _her._

His beloved Katara.

'I'm pathetic,' Zuko thought in rising anger. 'Pining after a waterbender like some lovesick teenager.'

His thoughts raged on.

'She's merely a peasant. I'm still somewhat of a prince. She's water. I'm fire. She's my opposite.'

'Yet my equal.'

Zuko stares at the stream before him, considering something. Tentatively, his pale hand reached out and cupped a handful of water. He watched as the liquid escaped easily from his fingers. The firebender's eyebrows furrowed.

Water was elusive.

He could feel its cool touch wash over him, but it was a fleeting touch.

"Would it be this lonely with her?" he dared to wonder aloud.

Then Zuko realized that he wanted nothing more than to hold Katara in his waiting arms. For selfish, wanton purposes.

To touch her.

To caress her.

To hold her.

To love her.

"Agni," Zuko cursed.

How could this mere slip of a girl do this to him? How could she haunt and vex him so?

What if she knew of his feelings for her? Would she be mortified?

Or worse, laughing?

Zuko hastily dispelled the thought.

'No, she knows nothing of this and never will.'

But now, he longs to be with her. To lay with her, so that can cherish her in his embrace. He dreams of whispering sweet nothings into her delicate ear, his hot breath tickling her neck.

Katara would then giggle and let him do with her as he pleased. But not before she responded seductively, invitingly in this beautiful, breathy moan.

"Sedate me... Fill me... Take me..."

He dreams of this. Always this.

"But it will never be more than a dream," Zuko scowled bitterly.

He glared daggers at the stream and suddenly, with an anguished roar, hurled a vengeful flame into the stream.

Zuko panted as his eyes witnessed nature take its course.

Steam curled in the air, almost into a fanciful dance that whispered, "Come closer..." The forlorn teenager thinks that he can see the outline of Katara's chocolate locks, tumbling down her petite shoulders. The image soon faded away as the steam began to dissipate.

Zuko then sees that the stream looked unaffected, even after his malign outburst. It resumed its infinite path without delay.

Water flowed freely. Forever.

Fire would die. Eventually.

An epiphany strikes the prince with resounding force. Enlightenment has shone.

Water was _not _weak.

No element was weak.

It was _he _that was weak.

FADE TO BLACK


End file.
